Wednesday, 15 February 2012

BCS President's Report February 2012

It’s the time of year here in the UK when we begin to think about summer holidays - which prompted me to think about all our BCS overseas members. I hope you are all well and enjoying life.

Furthermore I’m delighted to say that 4 overseas speakers will be giving presentations at our forthcoming Symposium in Basingstoke from 13-15 June. They are from Poland, France, Sweden and the USA. The full programme for the Symposium should be available on the website within the next few days. It’s completed but just waiting for final approval from the Programme Committee. Do please take time to look at it and I’m sure you’ll find that there are many sessions, some or all of which, are bound to be of interest.

The Council met on 7 February in London. The major points that resulted from that meeting are as follows:

the finances are sound and we ended 2011 with 628 members,

the UKCC review paper was accepted,

the Membership Committee will consider the possibility of re-branding the Society,

the 2012 programme is well in hand and a draft programme for 2013 is being refined,

the Publications Committee reported that they had plenty of material for both the next editions of the Cartographic Journal and Maplines

and all the SIGS have events planned for 2012

During the month the Society conducted 2 Restless Earth Workshops as planned, one for schools near Chipping Norton and the other for schools in Kendal, both of which went very well. When asked what the students liked best, typical of the answers was: “The teamwork, I really enjoyed looking at maps and feeling like we were actually planning it all.”

Next month we have 2 more Restless Earth Workshops in Chatham and Banbury and I’m sure with the help of our RGS ambassadors they too will be a great success.

We also have a stand at the GEO 12 event in Elstree, 21-22 March, where we will be endeavouring to encourage more people to join the Society. I’m delighted to say that Alan Grimwade, MD of Cosmographics Ltd, has taken over as the Corporate Member representative.

There are 2 other things I’ve been asked to include in this report. First of all, entries for the Map Awards should be submitted by 31 March and second, if you haven’t paid your annual subscription yet then please do so as soon as you are able.

On a lighter note, Rob Sharpe one of our Council members, married Emily Martin last Saturday. Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Sharpe.

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